Chapter 6
Harry hummed, ignoring the glare of Death as he stared at his new scars. The black lines had grown due to his recklessness and now covered the majority of his body, stretching across every crevasse that it could.
Annoying.
You only have yourself to blame, Harry.
“It matters not, even if this body dies then I’ll be fine.”
“That’s not the point, master. You’re depriving me of entertainment!”
A knock interrupted their argument, leaving Harry only a moment of warning before the door opened. He directed his magic to cover the scars, only for it to spitter and die, leaving his body exposed to the eyes of his visitor.
“Prongslet, Moony made some cookies- Merlin!” Sirius shouted in alarm; his grey eyes widened as they took in the sight of Harry’s body. The black scars pulsed and dripped with dark blood, “MOONY! GET YOUR WAND! HARRY’S HURT!”
“Harry’s hurt!?” Draco yelled from down the hall.
“I mean, technically yes, but also no-” Harry frowned as his room was soon filled, everyone ignoring his attempts to dissuade their concerns, “Sure, come in. It’s not like I was doing anything.”
“Bambi, what on earth is happening?” Sirius questioned, his hands hovering around the pulsing streaks.
“There’s no need to concern yourself over it, Death is handling the matter.” Harry frowned as that only seemed to cause the others to concern themselves more, “Honestly, it’s only a minor affliction, it’ll be fixed soon enough.”
Remus grabbed Sirius from chasing after Death’s master, whispering in his ear as Harry walked out of the room. If they wouldn’t leave, then he would.
“Harry,” Draco called, his steps only a second behind the raven, “Are you sure it’ll be fine?”
Emerald eyes smiled, turning to look at the blonde. Silver orbs stared back at him, his worry clear as he clutched to the hem of Harry’s sleeve. It was still... strange to Harry that another being besides Death cared for him. Of course, there were the other Deities who tried their hardest to gain his favor. They weren’t free from Death’s call, and only Harry had the ability to overturn their demise. Not that he did, they annoyed him too much to deal with them any longer than he had to.
“Oh, little dragon,” Harry brushed his hand against the Slytherin’s hair, “Trust me, there’s not a single thing that could actually kill me.” Well, at least for now.
“Little dragon...?” Draco questioned as Harry made his escape.
“Master, are you sure you don’t want to tell them?”
“What’s there to tell? My new body will be done soon enough, and even if something happens to this one, well, it’s not like I will actually die.” Harry snorted, the idea of his death always amused him after he learned of his continued existence, “Hm, did I ever send that letter to Thomas?”
“Master... something about that soul... I don’t like it.”
Should I be offended?
“Hush, don’t squabble in my head.” Harry admonished his two companions, “Besides, I believe I have an understanding of what exactly is happening with Thomas and me.”
“...and? What is it?”
Don’t go quiet on us now, hurry up and enlighten us.
The immortal merely smiled, “You’ll have to wait and see.”
-
Harry hummed to himself, a tune that was sung by elves in a different world. They celebrated death, not with sorrow, but with new beginnings as winter left and spring came. A curious folk, they were warm and inviting towards him.
Hedwig hooted as she flew away from him, a letter clutched in her claws as her wings flapped from above Diagon Alley.
Perhaps it wasn’t his brightest idea to send the letter right as he got to Diagon alley, but when did he ever claim to only follow the good ideas?
The young immortal scanned the windows, his eyes searching for trinkets and the assortment of odd instruments to gift to his companions. It had been a long time since he had celebrated Christmas, longer since he had understood that he was celebrating the holiday and not just being gifted things by individuals that were fond of him.
“I’d recommend the dragon gem; the red would go well with your skin. Then again, red suits you no matter where the source of it comes from.”
Ah, Thomas.
“Funny, Death says much the same.” Harry smiled at the red eyes that belonged to a different body.
Tom, taking control of Quirrell's body, frowned, “I’m not sure I like being compared to him, little raven.”
Can we just kill him? You already have me.
“No, we can’t kill him.” Harry motioned for the dark lord to follow him, walking along the alley as they looked at shops. “I didn’t think my letter would reach you so soon.”
Red eyes narrowed, his fist clenching around the letter in his hand, “...This information. What does it cost?”
Slytherins. They truly do have a hive-mind sort of mentality, why do they think everything comes at a price?
“Nothing.”
“Hold on, I’m not comfortable with you giving this away, master.”
I also don’t want to give this bastard anything.
“Silence, you two. Tom and I have a connection that goes beyond the one I have with Death.” Harry snapped.
“...If I didn’t know any better, I would assume you were insane and simply speaking to yourself.” Voldemort breathed deeply, “You keep mentioning that we have this connection, but I do not know what it is. A Horcrux would be far lower than the bond you have with Death.”
The immortal being laughed, his green eyes glowing as he walked into a store, picking out items for his friends, “Oh dear, it seems as if I misspoke last time. The being that’s connected to my head, isn’t a Horcrux. He’s a Tom Riddle-”
What? ...I’m a- replacement?
“Hush dear, listen to the whole story.”
“Am I so great to you that you needed to create a whole new soul in order to have me?”
Harry tilted his head, “He... well, he’s my child. It’s a little complicated, but... During the first millennia of my reign as Master of Death, I was quite angry. I directed that anger toward you, torturing you in many ways. I grew bored near the end, my reason for anger fading with time until I eventually forgot why I even wanted to hurt you.”
Harry grabbed a book, running his fingers along the binding and soothing his child that was restless in his head.
“Quite frankly, I forgot about most of everything. Death sealed my memories since I wasn’t moving on, I was festering and growing into a tyrant, one that would bring the destruction of everything and then myself.” Dark lashes lowered, memories surfacing the more he talked, “I grew curious about this soul in front of me, why was I trying to break it? Why was I pushing it so hard? Soon enough, I broke a rule.”
“A rule?” Tom leaned over the small child, his anger exuding from the body of the professor, “You tortured my soul for billions of years, and only after you stop- then you break a rule?”
“It’s a little funny, yes.” The immortal laughed, looking up at the broken wizard, “I interfered with life. While Death is vastly known, Life... No one knows what happened to them. They disappeared off the face of the many universes, the only reason life is still created was because of the system they put in place before vanishing.” Emerald eyes clashed with Ruby, “There were rumors that Life decided to die.”
“I broke a rule by creating a life, I didn’t trust any of the other Gods or Masters, so I turned my eyes toward a soul that was with me from the near beginning. I split your soul, I split mine, then I fused them together. In other words, I made a child between you and me. It couldn’t have a body, I don’t have that power, so it went into the closest vessel it could find. The empty space of your Horcrux, inheriting its memories.”
“You...” Thomas stuttered, caught off guard at the information that was presented before him, “It... you made an abomination.”
“I made a child, my child. Don’t worry,” Harry smiled, “I won’t ask for child support.”
…
“Aren’t you happy? You now know that it was never you who harmed Harry.”
I don’t- I need... I’m not me?
“If you’ll excuse me,” Harry stepped away from the other man, “Our son is in need of some advice. Oh, and don’t worry, with the vial of my magic that I sent you, you’ll return to your own body soon enough.”
-
I want my own body, and my own memories, I want to be myself.
“I don’t have that power.”
Why did you keep this away from me? Why hide that I wasn’t Thomas Riddle, that I wasn’t Voldemort, that I didn't need to feel guilty every time I thought about the indirect actions of Voldemort that caused you to become the very thing you despised?
“I did tell you at one point,” Harry muttered, he looked at the sky as he sat on the roof of a random building he chose, “I told you in the beginning about your existence, that you weren’t the person in your memories. It drove you insane, invaded your mental fortitude, and eroded your shield. I suppose it was natural, you were technically a newborn after all.”
So, I just forgot? I just hid away as you did?
“Watch your tongue-”
“Yes, we both hid from our memories in order to heal.” The pale wizard confirmed, closing his eyes, “It’s time now, though, that we both stopped trying to run away from the things we fear.”
...I want my own body.
“We don’t have that type of-”
“I’ll make it happen, soon enough. Just give me a few years.”
-
“Their house is... dark.” An adult male stood at the gates of Grimmauld Place, his glasses slipping down his nose slightly, “Are you sure we have the right place, Hermione?”
“You must be ‘Mione’s parents,” Harry greeted as he opened the door, smiling softly as his friend hugged him, “Most of everyone has already come, so just make yourselves comfortable and feel free to ask any questions that you might have.”
“Oh!” A woman, Mrs. Granger, gasped in delight, “Why, aren’t you just the politest child! Thank you very much,”
Harry hummed, stepping aside as they entered the boisterous house. It was noisy.
“Harry, your frown is showing.”
“Luna,” The immortal grinned, holding his arms out as the blonde wrapped him in hers, “It has been quite a while, last I saw you was when you had reincarnated as a young lad. You had just gotten married to- what was his name? The one that was a half-goblin and half-elf?”
“Steven, and yes, he was quite confused as to why Death’s child had shown up to our wedding unannounced. He seemed to have forgotten that I was inviting my destined brother.”
“Hm,” Harry smiled at Destiny, the being in the form of Luna’s father as he passed by, “Only Destiny would be brave enough to show up in his human form at Death’s doorstep.”
Luna giggled, lightly swatting Harry’s arm at the small pun. They walked into the foyer, dodging out of the way as some stray fireworks brushed past them, courtesy of two red-headed twins. It was noisy, but it was family.
“Fate has been acting strangely of late, nervously loitering around Time. They even came to father, asking some odd questions.” Luna informed him.
To anyone else, it would sound as if she was talking about wrackspurts or nargles, Destiny made sure that the ordinary mortal wouldn’t catch wind of talk about Gods. He didn’t want his child to be condemned by the other immortals. After all, a child of Destiny had countless reincarnations and would need support from more than just Destiny himself.
“Death and I had a small peak into the book of records, there were inconsistencies with my page,” Harry explained as he smiled at Ron, who was filling his plate full for the third time. “I already have a guess as to what Fate has done, and there will be consequences. In time though, for now, I need to fix some of the wrongs that they’ve committed.”
Luna sighed as she spotted Draco walking toward them, his steps heavy as was his frown, “You were always too gentle with them in the beginning, always cleaning up their messes.”
“This is the last time, after this, they will face the court.”
“What court?” Draco asked as he pulled his arm around Harry’s shoulders, leaning the smaller boy against him, “I can have my father-”
Harry stuffed a cookie in the other boy’s mouth, Luna smiling amusedly as she walked away to talk to Hermione, “Wrong court, darling. I’m talking about the court of the Gods, your father wouldn’t even be able to enter let alone affect it.”
The young boy chewed on his cookie, peanut butter and chocolate chip, Harry made them himself, “Well, I’ll just have to support you morally then.”
Harry laughed, “Happy Yule, Darco.”
“Happy Yule, Harry.”